Faculty Services

The Library's Reference Department staffs the Reference Desk, where students, faculty, staff, and the public can come for basic research assistance. Faculty are encouraged to contact the Reference Desk for answers to relatively quick or small questions, like finding a particular source.

For the Reference Desk's contact information and operating hours, see the Need Help? page of this guide.

The Reference Department is made up of law librarians that are expert researchers that can assist your research in a variety of ways, including:

• Discussing approaches and ideas for finding information on a particular topic;
• Compiling a set of articles, books, or other materials for your initial research;
• Tracking down hard-to-find materials (e.g., legislative history, docket filings); and
• Similarly extensive research projects

For assistance, contact the Reference Desk.

Mattering on the requested level of research, the Library may suggest hiring a Research Assistant to timely complete the project.

The Law Library provides an annual training session for Research Assistants ("RAs") at the start of summer. Faculty will receive an email in late Spring with information about the session, which they can forward on to their RAs if they would like them to attend. The law librarians are also happy to meet one-on-one with any RAs to provide more specialized training.

Additionally, research assistance remains available throughout the summer. Faculty are welcome to direct their RAs to reach out to the Reference Desk for research help.

We understand that it is often critical that you know the latest developments in your field. To help you stay current, we can assist you in the following ways:

Contact the Reference Desk for any additional guidance on setting up and managing these emails, feeds, and other alerts.

The Law Library is happy to help you order personal copies of books. These purchases will be made from your research budget and delivered to your office or mailbox once they arrive. To request assistance ordering a personal copy of a book, contact the Reference Desk. 

The Library also welcomes suggested additions to the collection, particularly if they will assist in your scholarship and teaching.

The Moritz College of Law community has access to a large number of research databases related to law and other subjects. Faculty can browse these databases using either:

• Moritz Law Library's A-Z Law Databases

  A list of commonly used legal research databases and other law-related online resources

• OSU Libraries Research Databases List

  A comprehensive list of databases available to The Ohio State University community

For issues related to accessing databases, contact the Reference Desk. (See the Need Help? page of this guide for the Reference Desk's contact information.)

College of Law faculty have access to certain research storage tools, including: